I was really glad that this truck was nowhere near me when we drove out of Austin on an icy morning. There were guys throwing sand onto closed highway ramps with shovels, and too many accidents to count.

Tidbits of Texas history

Growing up in New England and living a distinctly bi-coastal life I admit I had no real experience of chicken fried steak – only notions of something horribly fried and greasy. In Fredericksburg, Texas I learned that chicken fried steak is the direct descendent of wiener schnitzel, a favorite of the German immigrants who came to Texas in the 1840’s. Traditional wiener schnitzel is made with tenderized veal which is breaded and fried. Chicken fried steak is beef that is breaded and fried using the oil from fried chicken. Now I know and so do you...

The other really interesting fact about Fredicksburg, TX, a small town 80 miles west of Austin, is that in 1847 the the leadership of this early settlement successfully negotiated the only unbroken treaty with Native Americans. In order to meet the terms of the land grant given to German settlers around Fredericksburg they needed access to Comanche land. Eschewing the typical violent approach to Indians, this John Meusebach, had his men empty their guns before approaching the Comanches. It worked and over several days the Comanche chiefs and Meusebach hammered out an agreement. According to the Texas State Historical Society the agreement "allowed settlers to go unharmed into Indian territory and the Indians to go to the white settlements; promised mutual reports on wrongdoing; and provided for survey of lands in the San Saba area with a payment of at least $1,000 to the Indians. The treaty opened more than 3 million acres of land to settlement.” It is the only treaty ever negotiated directly between settlers and Native Americans and it was never broken.